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Civilization: The West and the Rest

February 13, 2013
Author:
Niall Ferguson
Publisher:
Penguin Books (2012)

Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries

How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer applications”—competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic—that… read more

Topics: Social/Ethical/Legal

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The Artilect War: Cosmists Vs. Terrans

December 15, 2010

Theartilectwar

Author:
Hugo de Garis
Publisher:
ETC Publications (2005)

Amazon |  This book’s main idea is that this century’s global politics will be dominated by the “species dominance” issue.  21st century technologies will enable the building of artilects (artificial intellects, artificial intelligences, massively intelligent machines) with 1040 components, using reversible, heatless, 3D, molecular scale, self assembling, one bit per atom, nano-teched, quantum computers, which may dwarf human intelligence levels by a factor of trillions of trillions… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics | Human Enhancement | Singularity/Futures | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Strategic Relocation – North American Guide to Safe Places

October 30, 2012

Strategic Relocation

Author:
Joel Skousen
Publisher:
Swift Printing (2010)

What if: a labor crisis halts the inflow of food and business goods? Will your community provide the basic necessities of life? an economic crisis that threatens your pensions, investments and other so-called “guaranteed” income? a major earthquake or other natural disaster suddenly upsets the natural social order for months at a time? Could you get out of harm’s way if massive social unrest erupts in the wake of… read more

Topics: Environment/Climate | Survival/Defense

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The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don’t

November 26, 2012

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Author:
Nate Silver
Publisher:
The Penguin Press HC (2012)

“Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise is The Soul of a New Machine for the 21st century.”
—Rachel Maddow, author of Drift

Nate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair’s breadth, and became a national sensation as a blogger—all by the time he was thirty.The New York Times now publishes FiveThirtyEight.com, where Silver is one of the nation’s most influential political forecasters.… read more

Topics: Innovation/Entrepreneurship

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The Singularity Is Near

August 5, 2009
Author:
Ray Kurzweil
Publisher:
Viking Press (2006)

Viking Press | In The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, Ray Kurzweil presents the next stage of his compelling view of the future: the merging of humans and machines. Kurzweil refers to this as “The Singularity,” and describes it as “…a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed.”

In… read more

Topics: Singularity/Futures

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The Brain Supremacy: Notes from the Frontiers of Neuroscience

November 1, 2012

The Brain Supremacy

Author:
Kathleen Taylor
Publisher:
Oxford University Press, USA (2012)

Advances in physics, chemistry and other natural sciences have given us extraordinary control over our world. But today the balance of power in the sciences is changing, as research on the brain and mind has produced important breakthroughs in our understanding of ourselves and of our environment. As a result, funding and researchers are pouring into the field of neuroscience.

The Brain Supremacy is a lucid and rational guide… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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The Hidden Alpha

February 19, 2013

thehiddenalpha

Author:
Alexander Popoff
Publisher:
Alexander Popoff (2013)

X Factors are unknown, emerging risks to human wellbeing, even survival. These risks might come from inner space (human cognitive and body enhancement, associated with genetic engineering, nanotechnologies, neural and cybernetic implants, etc.) and outer space (discovery and contact with extraterrestrial life and artificial intelligence).

That’s not preposterous science fiction mumbo jumbo of professor Farnsworth from Futurama but a serious discussion at the annual World Economic Forum in… read more

Topics: Biotech | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Nanotech/Materials Science | Space | Survival/Defense

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Are We Getting Smarter?: Rising IQ in the Twenty-First Century

October 29, 2012

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Author:
James R. Flynn
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press (2012)

The ‘Flynn effect’ is a surprising finding, identified by James R. Flynn, that IQ test scores have significantly increased from one generation to the next over the past century. Flynn now brings us an exciting new book which aims to make sense of this rise in IQ scores and considers what this tells us about our intelligence, our minds and society. Are We Getting Smarter? features fascinating new material… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Human Enhancement | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Future Babble: Why Expert Predictions Are Next to Worthless, and You Can Do Better

April 4, 2011

Future Babble book cover

Author:
Dan Gardner
Publisher:
Dutton Adult (2011)

Amazon | An award-winning journalist uses landmark research to debunk the whole expert prediction industry, and explores the psychology of our obsession with future history.

In 2008, experts predicted gas would hit $20 a gallon; it peaked at $4.10. In 1967, they said the USSR would be the world’s fastest-growing economy by 2000; by 2000, the USSR no longer existed. In 1908, it was pronounced that… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Singularity/Futures

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Infinite Reality: Avatars, Eternal Life, New Worlds, and the Dawn of the Virtual Revolution

November 30, 2010

infinitereality

Author:
Jim Blascovich, Jeremy Bailenson
Publisher:
William Morrow (2011)

Harper Collins | How far off is the science in the film Avatar? Do our brains know where “reality” ends and “virtual” begins? Where is technology leading us? Two leading authorities in the field of virtual reality answer these questions and more as they examine the possibilities and potential of emerging digital technologies to free our minds and change our understanding of what it means to be… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Entertainment/New Media | Human Enhancement | Internet/Telecom | Social Networking/Web/Education | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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The Grand Design

September 3, 2010

The Grand Design

Author:
Stephen William Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow
Publisher:
Bantam (2010)

Amazon | The three central questions of philosophy and science: Why is there something rather than nothing? Why do we exist? Why this particular set of laws and not some other? No one can make a discussion of such matters as compulsively readable as the celebrated University of Cambridge cosmologist Hawking (A Brief History of Time).

Along with Caltech physicist Mlodinow (The Drunkard’s Walk), Hawking deftly mixes cutting-edge… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Quantum

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The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone)Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale

January 25, 2011

The Winter of Our Disconnect

Author:
Susan Maushart
Publisher:
Tarcher (2011)

Amazon | The wise and hilarious story of a family who discovered that having fewer tools to communicate with led them to actually communicate more.

When Susan Maushart first announced her intention to pull the plug on her family’s entire armory of electronic weaponry for six months — from the itsy-bitsiest iPod Shuffle to her son’s seriously souped-up gaming PC — her three kids didn’t blink an eye.… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics | Entertainment/New Media | Internet/Telecom | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces

April 1, 2013
Author:
Radley Balko
Publisher:
PublicAffairs (2013)

The American approach to law enforcement was forged by the experience of revolution. Emerging as they did from the shadow of British rule, the country’s founders would likely have viewed police, as they exist today, as a standing army, and therefore a threat to liberty. Even so, excessive force and disregard for the Bill of Rights have become epidemic in today’s world. According to civil liberties reporter Radley Balko,… read more

Topics: Social/Ethical/Legal | Survival/Defense

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The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

September 7, 2010

theshallows

Author:
Nicholas G. Carr
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company (2010)

Amazon | The best-selling author of The Big Switch returns with an explosive look at technology’s effect on the mind. “Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Internet/Telecom

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Immortality Wars (digital novel)

June 20, 2012

immortality_wars

Author:
Joe Tripician
Publisher:
Amazon Digital Services (2012)

What is it about the Singularity that causes such controversy and conflict? In an age where nanotechnology and stem cells could greatly extend human life, and where human-to-computer mind upload is discussed as casually as the latest iPad app, the Singularity may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Award-winning author and filmmaker Joe Tripician offers up a tantalizing, satric and cautionary tale of one… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Singularity/Futures | Social/Ethical/Legal | Survival/Defense

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